Diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) neared agreement on a harsh rebuke of Iran for blocking a UN probe of its suspect nuclear activities, despite lobbying by Tehran to tone down the reprimand.
Delegates representing some of the 35 nations at the IAEA board of governors' meeting said on Tuesday that the newest draft, written by Germany, France and Britain, would likely be formally accepted in the next day or two.
Even though the draft does not directly threaten sanctions, its tough wording amounts to substantial pressure on Iran to clear up aspects of what was a covert nuclear program for nearly 20 years until it was discovered two years ago.
Compared to an earlier version, the new draft tones down demands on Iran to abort plans to build a heavy-water reactor and slightly modifies language taking Tehran to task for hampering the IAEA probe.
But the overall wording remains tough.
One key phrase "deplored" Iran's spotty record on cooperating with the agency -- strong wording in diplomatic language. Other omissions by Iran are noted with "concern," or "serious concern."
no trigger
The draft contains no deadline or "trigger mechanism" as sought by the US and its allies that could set into motion possible sanctions if Iran continued its foot-dragging past a certain date.
Still, in an apparent nod to the US, Canada, Australia and other nations favoring action instead of words, the draft contrasts the "passage of time" -- a year since the IAEA probe began -- with the still-blurry contours of Iran's nuclear program.
A diplomat -- speaking like all delegates on condition of anonymity -- said that Washington recognized it could not now get majority board support for a direct or implicit threat of UN sanctions.
Instead, the diplomat said, the US was waiting for new revelations about Iran's nuclear program to surface at the next board meeting in September that will increase sentiment to find the country guilty of contravening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That could result in referral to the UN Security Council, which could then impose sanctions.
The results of analysis of enriched uranium traces found on military sites in Iran and now being evaluated by the agency could provide the trigger in September, the diplomat said, adding it could support suspicions that Tehran enriched uranium domestically.
Iran, which denies working on enrichment beyond the experimental stage, says minute finds of enriched uranium -- which include minute amounts at weapons-grade levels -- within the country were not domestically produced but inadvertently imported in purchases through the nuclear black market.
The other main agency concern is ambiguous, missing or withheld information on the scope of Iran's centrifuge program, used to enrich uranium.
Under international pressure, Iran has suspended uranium enrichment and stopped building centrifuges. It has also allowed IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities without notice. But recent revelations have raised new suspicions.
magnets
An IAEA report, written by agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, says Iran inquired about buying thousands of magnets for centrifuges on the black market -- casting doubt on Iranian assertions that its P-2 centrifuge program was purely experimental and not aimed for full uranium enrichment.
In desperate efforts to sway the meeting, the Iranian delegation met privately with ElBaradei on Tuesday and lobbied with the chief delegates of the three European nations who wrote the draft, a diplomat close to the agency said.
Publicly, Tehran protested its innocence.
"We have no plans to produce weapons and all of our activities are for peaceful purposes and nothing is wrong," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Tuesday in Istanbul.
But in Vienna, Kenneth Brill, the chief US delegate to the IAEA, said Washington remained convinced that Iran was "trying to hide ... a weapons program."
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS